According to preliminary IHS Markit smartphone data, global smartphone shipments recorded a negative year-over-year growth rate for two consecutive quarters in 2018. Shipments totaled 354.8 million units in the third quarter of 2018, declining by 3.3 percent from the previous year.

After launching the P20-series earlier in the year, Huawei is looking towards the latest edition of its Mate series to continue the company’s momentum to retain a spot in the global Top 3 smartphone OEMs.
Huawei presented a host of devices for the premium smartphone segment as well as a gaming focused handset which is becoming more popular in their domestic Chinese market. Huawei also renewed its partnership with Porsche Design. Additionally, the company launched two new wearables, the Watch GT and Band 3 Pro.

Global smartphone shipments reached 344.6 million units in the second quarter of 2018 – a 1.8% decline year over year, from 350.9 million units, and down slightly from the previous quarter. Huawei beat Apple to reach the #2 spot in global shipments. While Samsung retains the top spot, the company recorded its worst quarterly performance since Q2’13.

Total year-over-year global smartphone shipments increased 2 percent, reaching 345.5 million units in the first quarter of 2018. However, seasonality took its toll, driving shipment volume down by 11 percent quarter over quarter.

The US Department of Commerce has activated a Denial Order against ZTE Corporation.
The order, in its current form, states that ZTE may not be involved in any transaction involving any commodity, software or technology exported or to be exported from the United States that is subject to Export Administration Regulations (EAR).
The Denial Order expires on March 13th, 2025.
ZTE relies heavily on technology and software from US vendors like Qualcomm and Google.

Based on preliminary data from IHS Markit, global smartphone unit shipments declined by 4.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017 to 387.5 million units. Shipments grew 3.1 percent year over year, from 1.40 billion units to 1.44 billion units. Of the leading handset brands, only Xiaomi and Motorola experienced shipment growth in the fourth quarter of 2017.

The S8 and S8+ are visibly differentiated smartphones because of their large Samsung displays, tiny bezels, and fast chipsets which all play to Samsung group’s competitive strengths. Samsung’s initial Bixby AI implementation falls short of its goal of being a comprehensive AI assistant because of weak app integration and limited voice compatibility. Provided Samsung can manufacture sufficient volumes of S8 and S8 + smartphones, and has no new reliability issues, the S8 will be a success for Samsung. The strong industrial design will support the Samsung brand and provide a foundation for Samsung’s ecosystem ambitions with VR, Bixby AI, and enterprise offerings.

Samsung’s latest Note device, the Galaxy Note 7, is the company’s new flagship device. With it, Samsung hopes to capitalize on the momentum gained earlier in the year with the launch of the Galaxy S 7/edge devices. Pricing will depend on the carrier and availability will begin from August 19th.

Samsung announced its Q1'16 earnings results today, 50.94 trillion KRW revenue and 8.14 trillion KRW operating profit which makes 16.0% operating margin rate. The handset business of Samsung has been showing constant growth in unit volumes. However, both revenue and operating profit have declined. Mobile division which includes handset business unit recorded 26.07 trillion KRW in revenue. Operating profit of IM(IT and Mobile) group recorded 4.32 trillion KRW, which makes 16.3% operating margin. This is the highest operating margin since Q3’14.

The German telecoms regulator Bundesnetzagentur (FNA) has approved Deutsche Telekom’s use of vectoring on its copper (PSTN) network; on condition it gives its competitors fair access to the new technology.

Samsung grew revenue and profit in Q3 2015 on the back of improving mid and low end smartphone shipments. M Business unit which includes smartphone business posted 26.61 trillion Korean won (KRW) revenue in Q3'15. This is up 8% YoY and 2% QoQ. Operating profit was 2.4 trillion KRW, which reflects 9% of margin rate.